Posted on 12/31/2007 2:02:43 PM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
A Seattle-area man has been charged by federal air marshals with groping a female passenger aboard a United Airlines flight that was diverted to Pittsburgh as a result of the alleged incident.
Michael L. Holland, 46, made his initial appearance before a magistrate on Monday on a charge of abusive sexual contact, according to Ted Hresko, special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh air marshals' office.
Holland had been chatting with the woman Sunday on United Flight 917, which was bound for Seattle from Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C., Hresko said.
""The next thing you know, he's groping her," said Hresko. "The flight attendants asked our (air marshals) to get involved."
Holland was handcuffed by air marshals and taken to an empty seat in another part of the plane, Hresko said. The pilot opted to divert the flight to Pittsburgh so Holland could be removed, said Hresko.
United Airlines officials did not immediately return
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
I hope he has to pay for the full costs of the aircraft diversion.
heh - hope that quick feel was worth the body cavity search he will undoubtedly get on the ground...
If there was an empty seat, why divert the flight? Was he dangerous? Seems like a bit of a ridiculous action. Why inconvenience all of the passengers if the culprit could be controlled elsewhere on the plane? Did I miss something?
Diverted?
Why?
Could they have restrained them themselves, maybe with passenger help? I don’t like using the air marshals. It would be an easy way to smoke them out IMO.
whyu not just open the door and kick him the f’ off the plane....that definitely would deter him from doing it a second time!!!!
As usual, the passengers are not considered.
I am glad that a marshal was on board, but there was no need to divert the flight.
It’s the pilot’s call, but one consideration would be the fact that the air marshals were outed.
I was thinking about letting all the women show him why his behavior was unacceptable. After he was restrained of course.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Yeah. Best to play it safe and drop him off.
Yeah. Best to play it safe and drop him off.
And if the pilot doesn’t divert and this clown causes more problems? You never know what such a person will do, or attempt to do. He is also diverting the attention of the air marshals if anything else were to happen.
Best to get rid of him the first chance, imo.
I think you did. The air marshal had to blow his cover to subdue the unruly passenger. That means that if there were terrorists aboard, they'd know whom to take out. I wouldn't be surprise if a terrorist organization were to deliberately create in air incidents to out and preoccupy on board air marshalls as part of an attemt to take over an aircraft.
Yeah, the outing of the Air Marshals was sufficient cause for the diversion. Letting the passengers line the jetway and turn it into an ad hoc gauntlet before he was taken off would have been a nice touch, though.
You've got to be kidding. Do you have any idea how many tons of force is keeping the cabin doors closed?
I think he was kidding, (kind of:’) I like my idea better anyway.
Here’s a little more information from another source:
A United Airlines flight to Seattle was forced to make an unscheduled stop Sunday in Pittsburgh to offload an unruly passenger.
Officials said a male passenger on flight 917 from Washington’s Dulles Airport was groping a woman sitting next to him, causing the woman’s young daughter to begin screaming loudly in mid-flight.
“The daughter was just freaking out,” said passenger Brian O’Neill, who was sitting one row away. “She was like ‘tell that man to stop touching my mom!’ It was the spookiest thing I ever saw in my life.”
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